(5/22/04 - 6/6/04)
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(This page has pictures from days 5/22 - 5/26)
Arriving in Munich. The van picked me up (Sarah Walker) at the airport and we drove to Olching.
The fresh motorcycles clean and bright, about to be checked out to us.
Motorcycles.
More bikes.
Random bikes.
Breakfast in Olching, first day. Mmmm, German bread...
Breakfast.
Leslie Cleverly on her 650 ("Funduro").
Random church we peeked into on our first warm up ride.
Dachau front gate: "Work will set you free".
Below is a panorama of the Dachau compound.
Front of the hotel Am Mulbach in Olching, Germany, outside of Munich. It is the tour "home base", we start and end here.
My motorcycle outfitted. That's my GPS unit I brought and just mounted. The tour provides the tank map cases, and you can see a highlighted route in pink (I do the highlighting). About a third of the tour members brought GPS units.
Me in front of my motorcycle, picture by Brian Beach.
In the panorama below, that's Richard Cleverly on the far left in blue, Brian Beach next, then a nice big Austrian valley we were overlooking as we stopped for coffee.
Lunch stop, here's Brian Beach. Notice how high up we are, it's actually a ski area we're in.
A panorama of the lunch spot.
The next day, May 25, Brian Beach and I rode with Barry Lauder, who was with a large group of New Zealanders on this trip. Here is Barry from behind entering a one lane wide two way tunnel.
Both Brian Beach and Barry are in the tunnel.
We stopped for lunch at this random patio in (I think) Austria.
We're heading towards Saltzburg, and the ring road around Hitler's Eagle's Next, this is just a random valley we stopped at along the way for a break. We drive through scenery like this all day long.
This is a panorama from the ring road around the Eagle's Nest.
Our hotel outside of Saltzburg.
The motorcycles parked at the hotel.
The tour members on the back deck at the hotel after a day of riding. The tour guide Rob Beach is in the white sneakers facing away from the camera in the middle, talking with Bill (on the left in the white long sleeve T-shirt) and Dennis.
Packing up in the morning, people get organized and leave at different times.
We break for coffee here at this cafe before driving up the Grossglockner, a very famous mountain pass.
A word about Austrian bathrooms. THEY RULE!! If you stop at a completely random cafe or gas station in Austria, you can bet you can eat off the white tile floors, and that the sinks will be immaculate. I don't know what it is about Austrians, but they really, REALLY like their bathrooms clean and well maintained, and I love them for it. Now for a horror show, stop by any Italian cafe... the water in the sink probably doesn't run, there is no soap, and the bathroom hasn't been cleaned in a year.
A random Austrian bathroom in a gas station, they are all like this:
The toll booth leading up to the Grossglockner.
I went ahead a little, then stopped and took the following several photos as my group passed. First is Leslie:
Next is Brian Beach.
Finally is Richard, bringing up the rear in his RT he nicknamed "Hannibal" after the famous Hannibal who rode his elephant over the alps. The RT is a big, heavy touring bike, too big for these alpine roads.
Panorama from the top of the Grossglockner.
Grossglockner.
Again.
Again.
This is a panorama from "Biker's Point" which is a few hundred yards above the top of the Grossglockner.
This is the road leading up to the "Biker's Point", notice the switchback and how the road is one lane (and two way traffic).
Lunch at the top.
Random picture from near the top of the Grossglockner.
Getting ready to ride, Richard on the left, Brian Beach in back in white helmet, and Leslie on the right in the orange cap.
I don't know why this came out so blurry. It was a very pretty road I took as an extra loop at the end of the day on my own.
At the end of May 26, after 12 hours of riding, we end up at Hotel Planinka, in Jezersko, Slovenia.
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